Historic Hood River
Fire Equipment, Circa 1955
5-24-2013
Notes
This fireman is testing the latest in breathing apparatus from the Scott Aviation Company.
The History Museum of Hood River County
Bringing the Rich History of Hood River County to Life
The History Museum of Hood River County
Bringing the Rich History of Hood River County to Life
This fireman is testing the latest in breathing apparatus from the Scott Aviation Company.
Russ
A couple other companies leading the way in SCBA’s (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) were Draeger (sic) and MSA (Mine Safety Equipment). These SCBA’s have saved more lives of firefighters than any other equipment to this day. Many Old Timers refused to use these when they first came out and were known as Iron Lungs. Of course those days are long gone as common sense has prevailed.
Lesa
I love the style of the guys shirt cuffs, and the other guys lineman style boots. I also wonder, what was the purpose of the wire attached to the door frame over head? My Dad had an old mask, something like this, when I was a kid, and it smelled nasty. Do you think this one had that nasty latex rubber smell too?! Could be why guys didn’t like to use it.
Jeffrey Bryant
Notice the ashtrays everywhere.
Lesa
I noticed at least three. There is even one down by the one guys foot, which I thought at first was just a weird brass plate in the floor. My Gramps had an ashtray that looked like that, on the top, but had a little cloth sandbag on the bottom, to keep it steady. Notice no one is smoking?! They knew smoking and oxygen tanks don’t mix. The thought of wearing that, going into a fire, would scare me to death. One leak and you could go up like a bomb. No doubt it saved lives tho.
Longshot
What do you figure those seats are out of? A vintage school bus?
Keith Clarke
This looks like the upper floor of the old City Hall building (Fire Department) with the large overstuffed chairs that encircled the parimeter of the meeting room. The doorway in the background led to the brass pole , which allowed them to quickly access the fire apparatus on the first floor.
Patty Routson
I love this picture because my dad is in it and he looks so young.
Darlene Boggs
That is just at the time my ex joined the volunteer fire dept in Springfield and would have trained on this type of equipment. He became a regular a few yrs later and eventually retied from the dept after about 35 yrs.